Heeding King's Call
Photo from Electronic Records of the Office of the President (Obama Administration), 1/20/2009 - 1/20/2017, National Archives Catalog / Public Domain
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. waves to the crowd at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963.
We Heard Dr. King’s challenge. We went back to our communities.
On the 59th Anniversary of the March on Washington we:
- Remembered Dr. King’s challenge
- Celebrated what is happening in communities around the country
- Connected our work with the work of others
- Recommitted ourselves to ending racism
Ending Racism USA and Grace and Race Ministries, Inc. sponsored Heeding King’s Call:
As Larry Rubin, who attended the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, wrote in King had his dream. We must have a plan:
“The March helped build nationwide support for the tough and often dangerous work of organizing against racism that was taking place across America, especially in the South. It helped create the soil from which grew the mighty oaks of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and other progressive laws and policies.”
That is why today “we must re-invigorate that soil and protect those trees from being cut down.” The attack on social gains is one of two reasons that the Ending Racism community and Grace and Race Ministries, Inc. will mark the 59th anniversary of the March on Washington this year.
The second reason for the conference was to continue to heed the call Dr. King made at the March some 59 years ago. He urged all participants to go back to their communities and “continue the work” of building a just and equitable society. He knew that a better America can only be built by people themselves, working with their neighbors.
The conference included presentations by veteran Civil Rights advocates, young activists leading the Movement today, and elected officials struggling to make a difference. The presenters are listed below. Participants engaged with the presenters and described their own work to address racism in America.
You can view a recording of the full event or watch videos of the presenters at Heeding King’s Call Videos
Leaders
Brenda Girton-Mitchell
Reverend Brenda Girton-Mitchell is the Founding Executive Director of Ending Racism USA and Founder and President of Grace and Race Ministries, Inc, a ministry dedicated to building bridges of racial understanding.
She served as the Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the U.S. Department of Education for 6 years after being appointed by President Obama.
Kenneth B. Bedell, Ph.D.
Ken Bedell is an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church, a teacher, speaker, instigator, and the author of Realizing the Civil Rights Dream: Diagnosing and Treating American Racism (Praeger, 2017).
Courtland Cox
Courtland Cox is the Chairperson of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Legacy Project. Formerly, he was the Director of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) at the U.S. Department of Commerce. In 1963 he served as the SNCC representative on the Steering Committee for the March on Washington.
Larry Rubin
I spent most of my life as an organizer and publicist in the union movement promoting recognition and acceptance of the principle that we can’t have social equality without economic equity, a principle that today is fast becoming widespread in progressive organizing and politics. And today I continue to work to promote that principle.
Will Jawando
Will Jawando is an attorney, an activist, a community leader, and a council member in Montgomery County, Maryland, Will is the author of My Seven Black Fathers: A Young Activist's Memoir of Race, Family, and the Mentors Who Made Him Whole (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022).
Rev. Dr. Donna Claycomb Sokol
Donna Claycomb Sokol is the pastor of Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church in downtown Washington, D.C. She is the co-author of A New Day in the City (Abingdon, 2017).
Tyler Rogers
Tyler Rogers teaches at a secondary 7th and 8th Grade Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. For 8 years she has served in a low-income school system with a majority of black and brown students.